Taking sides in the debate over the Middle East

The decision to withdraw from the Oxford Union's October 23 debate was not lightly taken (Letters, October 27). The union was due to debate the one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue that I, as one of the three who withdrew, and the only Palestinian, believe passionately to be the only way to solve a conflict that has ravaged my homeland and its people. I was keen to see this debated publicly. But the issue was hijacked by pro-Israel groups which pressured the Oxford Union's president into uninviting Norman Finkelstein, also due to speak on the motion, fearing a panel dominated by critics of Israel.

We rejected this attempt to stifle the debate, so typical of Israel's supporters, and the resulting controversy over detail has aimed to distract attention from the main issue. Such tactics are transparent. Israel cannot hope to maintain itself indefinitely in this way. Sooner or later, it must accept its future lies with the Palestinians, not through dominance, but in equal partnership.Ghada Karmi Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

Colin Green claims lawyers threatened to bankrupt anyone who criticises Israeli policy. In fact Alan Dershowitz threatened to sue anyone who initiated an exclusion of scholars who work in Israel from British campuses. Anthony Lester confirmed that such an exclusion would violate British anti-discrimination law.

Criticising policy is not the same as setting up a racist exclusion. The Guardian should not print self-evident falsehoods. The Guardian should be extra careful when the falsehoods it prints constitute part of an antisemitic narrative of global Jewish conspiracy. The incurables will read this letter as a threat from the "Israel lobby" against a paper which "courageously" allows criticism of Israel. Others will read it as a warning, from someone who is, himself, a critic of Israeli policy, against the accelerating contemporary danger of anti-Jewish racism. If the left can't recognise the threat, then we are in trouble, because nobody else can be relied upon to oppose racism. The Guardian needs to stop hosting a debate between antisemitic and antiracist points of view. It is time to take sides.David HirshGoldsmiths, University of London

This article was amended Monday October 29 2007. David Hirsh, not Ghada Karmi, was the author of the second letter in the article above. This has been corrected.